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Author Topic: Best Russian language resources  (Read 81186 times)

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Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Russian language resources
« Reply #25 on: November 10, 2010, 08:21:51 PM »
Good suggestion and it has been added.  tiphat

Offline Vithar

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Re: Russian language resources
« Reply #26 on: November 11, 2010, 08:32:23 AM »
You listed livemocha, in the paid subscriptions section, and well I think you can pay for it.  As long as you get points by assisting people learning your native language you can use those points and not have to pay.  So it kind of belongs in both...

Offline Tim1970

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How to read Russian properly on your computer
« Reply #27 on: December 21, 2010, 04:25:44 AM »
If you are using XP/Vista platform and you want your internet to read Russian properly, make sure that it is setup to do exactly that.

1) Goto the Control Panel/ Date, Time,Lang.../Add Another Language.

2) Click on the Advanced tab.

3) After it says: 

Select a language to match the language of the non-unicode program you what to use.

  select Russian.

4) In the lower field box, check the boxes for:

10007 (MAC-Cyrillic)

20866 (Russian-KOI8)

20880 (IBM EBCDIC-Cyrillic (Russian))


5)  Click in the Apply box.

6)  Pop-up will appear saying that new selections will not take effect until restarting system.  Restart system? Click Yes.


Offline Vika

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Re: Russian language resources
« Reply #28 on: April 16, 2011, 05:50:39 PM »
Here are a few more resources for Russian learners:

Free resources and lessons for Russian learners - http://www.funrussian.com/

Russian word of the day in pictures: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fun-Russian/122746571101710 and http://twitter.com/funrussian and more Russian lessons.

FunRussian's Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/funrussian

And private Russian lessons: http://www.funrussian.com/private-russian-lessons/

As to the textbooks, I would also recommend,
Face to Face Russian, although these series of textbooks are a little outdated (as most of Russian textbooks are), they concentrate on conversational Russian. And if you use workbooks, you'll be able to practice a lot of what you had previously learned.

The New Penguin Russian Course can also be very helpful. It summarizes the grammar rules very well.

However, the best way is to use a combination of different textbooks and practice and practice and practice with a Russian speaker.

Good luck!  :)
Free Russian lessons online.
www.FunRussian.com

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Russian language resources
« Reply #29 on: April 24, 2011, 08:04:13 PM »
A new resource: http://www.russian-plus.com has been added. There are sections from alphabet to grammar to advance.

30 free beginner lessons.

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Russian language resources
« Reply #30 on: April 24, 2011, 08:17:22 PM »
Many of our word for the day ideas come from this new and exciting source:

http://www.funrussian.com

She offers very reasonably priced lessons via Skype.

Offline Guillo

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Re: Russian language resources
« Reply #31 on: May 24, 2011, 09:47:06 AM »
Some of those are really great!

Do you have any less academic stuff that you recommend? I mean things like Russian movies, TV shows and modern music... I can study, but there's no Russian community around here that would allow me to practice, and from experience learning other languages in the past I've discovered watching TV and movies in the target language is actually VERY helpful to get a feel for the slang and to train your ears.

So, no Russian version of Netflix that you guys know about??

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Russian language resources
« Reply #32 on: May 24, 2011, 10:06:55 AM »
Guillo, excellent strategy!

Go to YouTube and type in "Russian movies with English subtitles" and you'll be amazed at the wealth of resources. Most movies are broken into segments to meet YouTube bandwidth requirements. Also, the subtitles are not word-for-word but as you study you'll begin to pick a lot up.


A good way to learn is by Russian music: http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php/topic,4897.0.html

Also go here: http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php/topic,2257.0.html

We also have 62 pages with thousands of "Word of the Day" vocab: http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php/topic,3482.0.html

However as Russian grammar is complex you'll need to learn more than just words in order to form sentences. So, begin at this basic lesson website because it makes the sounds for you to practice: http://www.study-languages-online.com/course.html

Offline Larry

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Re: Russian language resources
« Reply #33 on: May 24, 2011, 11:05:35 AM »
There are a lot of good resources in the Russian language room (scroll up),including some websites where you can watch Russian movies. 

Here is a good thread on language:

http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php/topic,4177.0.html

Offline Hrafn

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #34 on: August 25, 2011, 08:38:11 PM »
I noticed that the 501 verbs book was listed. I'd like to recommend another verb book - The Big Silver Book of Russian Verbs. It has 555 fully conjugated verbs. This includes each verb in both imperfective/perfective aspect, all tenses, subjunctive form, participles, verbal adverbs, and imperatives. It also gives the cases the verb applies as well as several sample sentences. Additionally for the "top 100" verbs, there's a whole page for the verb just devoted to phrases using that verb in both Russian and English. The beginning of the book explains the common rules of grammar, and the back contains verb exercises + irregular verbs.

It was written by a former teacher of mine - an American who got his PhD in Russian at Moscow Uni and married a Russian. Incredibly intelligent man, and the second edition of the book is coming out in October for $11.43 on Amazon.

Owning the book myself, I can definitely assure you that it's worth the $12 if you want an extensive Russian verb reference.

Edit: Added a one page sample so you know what it looks like. I prefer the layout over the 501 Verbs book which I also own.

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #35 on: August 29, 2011, 11:12:58 AM »
Thanks, we'll add it to the list!

Offline Slumba

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #36 on: September 06, 2011, 11:53:45 AM »
http://gloss.dliflc.edu/Default.aspx

I just came across this, but even their Level I stuff is a tad beyond my current ability, being a newbie in Russian.  Anyone care to review it and see what they think of it?  They have multiple languages, so you have to select Russian first.
Anchors Rewoven

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #37 on: September 06, 2011, 02:31:54 PM »
While the DLI is an excellent resource, this site is designed as a supplement and their level 1 material is above most true beginners. It does not seem to be designed to take you from raw beginner and moving you thru the entry steps. So, bookmark the site as someday you'll be able to use this as a resource for practice in reading and comprehension.

Offline anotheropus

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #38 on: October 31, 2011, 08:06:54 AM »
Hello good people!

My friend Dustin, in Colorado, married to his beautiful Miss Ukraine [from beautiful Ivano-Frankivsk] (with their first baby now), hand built this RU language learning site.

http://www.bridgetorussian.com/

He built it with an unusual, topical approach to learning Russian.

Hit it and challenge yourself each day!

Warm regards,

Christopher
Christopher
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Offline krassavchick

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #39 on: October 31, 2011, 03:37:25 PM »
anotheropus  Thanks for the link and truly without wanting to sound conceited, i don't understand such high levels of Russian without Cyrillic or did i miss it?  Better to get someone reading real Russian staright away !!  Or maybe i missed it?  Congratulations btw !!

Offline anotheropus

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #40 on: November 01, 2011, 02:08:59 AM »
anotheropus  Thanks for the link and truly without wanting to sound conceited, i don't understand such high levels of Russian without Cyrillic or did i miss it?  Better to get someone reading real Russian staright away !!  Or maybe i missed it?  Congratulations btw !!

krassavchick  - I think I understand you... :) I personally prefer to learn RU directly, and especially to learn the alphabet and to read and write in RU. But I also understand we all learn differently. So perhaps some people can benefit from this site's approach to learning RU.

The best use I found was learning vocabulary in context, and at random. Our synapses fire according to some very high level of logic, but on the surface it seems that we think randomly. This site seems to mimic this process. So for some people it may help them learn vocabulary very naturally.

Warmest,

Christopher
Christopher
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Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #41 on: November 07, 2011, 11:30:11 AM »
It is rare to find such a complete and comprehensive lesson tool as the one I'm about to mention.

Other than www.listen2russian.com with their online texts and audio tools, few programs at a reasonable price measure up.

However I think another one meets similar expectations.

http://speak-russian.cie.ru/time_new/eng/

This tool uses video conversations, audio, and printable lessons and I've just started checking it out but so far am very impressed.


Offline leeholsen

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #42 on: December 01, 2011, 02:20:51 PM »
I found my way to this site that has its opinion of the 2,000 most common Russian words:

http://www.learnrussianfree.com/vocabulary/word

The site that got me there said, "I think it’s interesting to note that the first 2000 words gets you to 72%, and yet learning another three thousand words will only gain another 10%."

So, that's pretty good. if you know 2,000 words; you've probably got it down.

Now, using the correct case and gender is a whole different story.  :scared0005:
Eat 'em up Houston Cougars !

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #43 on: December 01, 2011, 11:50:10 PM »
Lee, good suggestion! It will be put in our permanent resources list.

Offline nicknick

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Re: Russian grammar
« Reply #44 on: February 11, 2012, 08:28:17 AM »
RUA resources:

Test and Quiz resources
www.practicerussian.com

http://www.learnrussianfree.com/vocabulary/word - Excellent quizzes and vocabulary building.

Just a little something to add to the list.  Many people here have partners who have had to go through the whole ESOL or TOEFL testing thing in order to get British citizenship etc.  Well there's a similar thing in Russian as well - it's called TRKI or ТРКИ.

The test covers grammar, reading, writing, listening and speaking.

Most of the questions are multiple choice but there are a couple of essay type questions.

For those that want to see how they're getting on with Russian here is a link to an example paper from the basic level:-

http://www.testrf.ru/pdf/baz.pdf

Here are a couple of examples of multiple choice questions from the grammar section:-

30. Вы хорошо знаете ... ?            
31. ... работает здесь уже десять лет.
32. ... сорок пять лет.

(А) наш директор
(Б) нашего директора
(В) нашему директору
(Г) с нашим директором


Then of course the – for me at least – dreaded verbs of motion:-

84. Ты ... в цирк сегодня?
85. Куда ты ... сейчас?
86. Ты часто ... на стадион?
87. Куда ты обычно ... по воскресеньям?

(А) идёшь
(Б) ходишь

Then in the speaking section, you have to answer some questions:-

1. Вы были в магазине и купили цветные карандаши.
- Кому Вы купили эти карандаши?
- … .
2. - Скоро каникулы. Что Вы будете делать в это время?
- … .
3. - Вы сегодня невесёлый. Что с Вами? Вы плохо себя чувствуете?
- … .
4. - Я не знаю, что подарить подруге на день рождения. Посоветуйте, пожалуйста.
- … .
5. - Извините, Вы не знаете, где находится магазин "Книги"?
- … .

and it gives a stern warning that:-

Remember that you must give a complete answer ("yes" "no" or "I do not know" are not complete).

There are also links to more advanced TRKI tests that will actually get you an official Russian certificate (if you pass them):-

http://www.testrf.ru/pdf/1ser.pdf

http://www.testrf.ru/pdf/2ser.pdf


If you have a read of this blog it will tell you a bit more about these tests and show you what the certificate looks like.  I believe he also has links to some other practice papers as well:-

http://www.england-moscow.com/2009/09/russian-langauge-test.html

Offline Dudefella

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #45 on: February 12, 2012, 05:23:47 AM »
Although obviously only PART of a balanced Russian-learning diet, the '1000 most popular word' lists are extremely helpful, I found that having memorised many common words my ability to understand sentences from my tutor went up immensely. You don't feel like you need to be spoon-fed everything when you can just flashcard common words into your brain when you're not being tutored. Helps smooth out grammar lessons too, when you have a large number of words in your head that you can apply rules to.

And don't feel stupid when you go back over them and don't remember a thing. If you don't use it, you lose it, and you're most probably not having Russian thrown in your direction all day, and words will drift out of familiarity until you revise.

I've forgotten more than I've learned in this stupid endeavour.

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #46 on: April 30, 2012, 09:16:23 PM »
jg, this is one of RUA's recommended resources and it fact has garnered a Red Star for the value it gives to students. You can find it listed on the resources near the top of the first page.



It is a paid service, however there are many FREE resources listed above.

Offline Larry

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #47 on: July 03, 2012, 07:17:58 PM »
I came across these free Russian courses, which feature audio and pdf files:

Quote
A Spoonful of Russian iTunes Feed Web Site
Recommended by our readers.

A Taste of Russian iTunes Web Site
This “isn’t a boring Grammar course, it is a real chat on different topics which can be heard in everyday life. It is a chance to listen to the native speakers talking at home, at work, at the shop, at the party, etc.”

Business Russian iTunes Web Site
Presented by the UCLA Center for World Languages, this series teaches students the essentials of Russian business communication.

Russian (Kazahk) Feed Web Site
No Borat jokes. Learn some Kazahk style Russian from the Peace Corps. Be sure to download the accompanying PDF file.

Russian Literature iTunes Web Site
Also presented by UCLA, this podcast helps users improve their comprehension and vocabulary by listening to excerpts from Tolstoy, Gogol, Chekhov and other Russian literary greats.

One Minute Russian iTunes Feed Web Site
RussianPod101 iTunes Web Site
Helps you learn Russian and Russian culture at your convenience.

Go here for the links to all these courses:

http://www.openculture.com/free_russian_lessons

Offline steadylearner

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #48 on: July 06, 2012, 10:04:28 AM »
I just got Thomas Beyer's Learning Russian the Easy and Fast Way" without the audio. So far, so good. I am almost halfway through it. Has anyone used this book yet? Did you like it?

Offline steadylearner

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Re: Best Russian language resources
« Reply #49 on: July 06, 2012, 10:06:49 AM »
Larry, thanks for the links!


 

 

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